Structural and Mechanical Hysteresis at the Order-Order Transition of Block Copolymer Micellar Crystals

Polymers

Theresa A. LaFollette¹ 

[1] id="af1-polymers-03-00281">Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Complex Fluids Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, U

关键词: pluronic;    block copolymer;    order-order transition;    SANS;    SAXS;    rheology;    hysteresis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/polym3010281

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Concentrated solutions of a water-soluble block copolymer (PEO)₂₀-(PPO)₇₀-(PEO)₂₀ show a thermoreversible transition from a liquid to a gel. Over a range of concentration there also exists an order-order transition (OOT) between cubically-packed spherical micelles and hexagonally-packed cylindrical micelles. This OOT displays a hysteresis between the heating and cooling transitions that is observed at both the macroscale through rheology and nanoscale through small angle neutron scattering (SANS). The hysteresis is caused by the persistence of the cubically-packed spherical micelle phase into the hexagonally-packed cylindrical micelle phase likely due to the hindered realignment of the spherical micelles into cylindrical micelles and then packing of the cylindrical micelles into a hexagonally-packed cylindrical micelle phase. This type of hysteresis must be fully characterized, and possibly avoided, for these block copolymer systems to be used as templates in nanocomposites.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.